Compliant gait assistance triggered by user intention

• Published in: 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) Vol. 2015; pp. 3885 - 3888
• Main Authors: Rajasekaran, Vijaykumar, Aranda, Joan, Casals, Alicia
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article Publication
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.01.2015; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Adaptive control; Adult; Algorithms; Biomedical monitoring; Exoskeleton; Exoskeletons; Gait; Gait assistance; Gait initiation; Humans; Informàtica; Intention; Joints; Knee; Legged locomotion; Lower Extremity - physiopathology; Medical rehabilitation; Orthotic Devices; Rehabilitació; Rehabilitation; Robotic exoskeletons; Robotics - methods; Robotics in medicine; Robòtica; Robòtica en medicina; Spinal Cord Injuries - physiopathology; Spinal Cord Injuries - rehabilitation; Stroke - physiopathology; Stroke Rehabilitation; Trajectory; Walking - physiology; Wearable robot; Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
• ISBN: 9781424492695; 1424492696
• ISSN: 1094-687X; 1557-170X
• DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2015.7319242

An automatic gait initialization strategy based on user intention sensing in the context of rehabilitation with a lower-limb wearable robot is proposed and evaluated. The proposed strategy involves monitoring the human-orthosis interaction torques and initial position deviation to determine the gait initiation instant and to modify orthosis operation for gait assistance, when needed. During gait, the compliant control algorithm relies on the adaptation of the joints' stiffness in function of their interaction torques and their deviation from the desired trajectories, while maintaining the dynamic stability. As a reference input, the average of a set of recorded gaits obtained from healthy subjects is used. The algorithm has been tested with five healthy subjects showing its efficient behavior in initiating the gait and maintaining the equilibrium while walking in presence of external forces. The work is performed as a preliminary study to assist patients suffering from incomplete Spinal cord injury and Stroke.